"What?"
"I had it with me. I swear I did!" Josh exclaimed frantically. "How on earth did I misplace it? Oh, God! Alvin is going to kill me!"
He searched through every pocket, checking his jacket, trousers, and even the briefcase, but the envelope was nowhere to be found.
Josh ran his hands through his hair in frustration.
"I can't believe this is happening."
He began pacing around the office, completely overwhelmed
"Oh, no. Not again. I can't believe this is happening again. What am I going to tell my boss?"
Josh wailed in frustration, burying his face in his hands before resting his head on the desk.
Connard stared at him, puzzled.
"What are you talking about? Has the check gone missing before?" he asked.
He couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right. The situation was beginning to look suspicious.
"Yes," Josh admitted. "But that happened before I came here. Fortunately, I found it inside the car I came in."
He lifted his head and sighed.
"I was absolutely certain I put it inside my pocket. The check can't possibly go missing again. I'm not stupid enough to make the same mistake twice."
Connard raised an eyebrow.
"Now you're speaking my language. I was pretty sure you didn't come into this office with the check."
He leaned back in his chair.
"You might want to check the car again. Perhaps it slipped out of your pocket before you got out."
For months, Alvin had been making substantial transactions through Ozone Bank, and not once had there been a report of a missing check.
That was why Connard found the situation particularly strange.
A check worth one million dollars had mysteriously disappeared on Josh's very first visit to the bank.
"I'm sure you don't expect me to believe you," Josh said defensively. "You weren't there when I found the check the first time. It's only natural for you to doubt me because you're not in my shoes."
"Is that what you think?" Connard shot back. "Do you think I'm not affected by this?"
He stood up, his expression becoming increasingly anxious.
"What do you think the CEO of Ozone Bank will do when he finds out that a one-million-dollar check has gone missing from his bank for the first time?"
He paused.
"And let's not even talk about Alvin Alejandro. You know exactly what he's capable of. He's your boss, isn't he?"
Connard's heart pounded heavily in his chest.
"And you think I'm happy about this?" Josh fired back.
He ran his fingers through his hair.
"Let's find a solution before this gets out of hand. I don't want my boss finding out about this."
He pointed toward his pocket.
"My boss personally handed that envelope to me. There is no way I would deliberately misplace the check, especially not twice."
Josh swallowed hard.
"Before I walked into this bank, I felt the envelope in my pocket. But now…"
He looked around helplessly.
"I just don't understand what happened. Gosh! What am I going to do?"
He placed both hands on his head, overwhelmed by the situation.
Twenty minutes passed, yet the check remained nowhere to be found.
The tension in the office grew with every passing second. Both men were consumed by fear and anxiety, desperately trying to figure out where the missing check could have gone.
Then, suddenly—
Josh's phone rang.
He froze.
His eyes darted toward the phone in his pocket.